-The strongest armor in the game-The greatest boarding potential of any faction-The ability to field two battleships-Boarding Torpedoes more annoying than the Ork's

And worst of all:-Fast enough to chase chaos ships

I never had any trouble wasting loyalists or xenos, but I cannot seem to touch the SMs. Since their release my shipyard has looked like a scrapheap. I have temporarily resorted to the generator security team (+10 to attempts to cancel a warp) just so I can scrape up some XP from matches against SM.

Carriers seem to be the obvious answer. I try to use fighters to block their torps and assualt craft and generally stay out of range. This works on inexperienced SM admirals half the time. Still, this tactic falls flat against the unthinkable Battle Barge, and someone had the bright idea to let them field two at a time. I have lost many CCs due to running out of time as the attacker because my remaining carriers, despite being outfitted with automated refueling, warp raptor crew, and liberal use of "Reload!" cannot damage these fast enough. I also love how, according to the faction select menu, SMs have "No Defensive Fighter" yet every single ship can be upgraded to take them.

Anyway, what is your experience fighting Space Marine fleets, how do you deal with them?

My main fleet is chaotic. And I have to say I am surprised to read you.

Space Marines fleets are, for me, the easiest targets for Chaos. Their heavy armors mean nothing in front of the Lance barrage of the Acherons or the Desolator (if you field one).And if they try boarding torpedoes and/or thunderhawks, you can have your carriers make a shield screen, slaughtering these slaves of the false-emperor in the vacuum of space.

And then of course, your bombers (if some are available) can deal great damages against them, since they ignore armor. So do the torpedoes of your Desolator, which are great against Battle Barges (these lairs of a false, twisted so-called holiness)

Just be careful about getting isolated, since a huge volley of torpedoes/thunderhawks/lightning strikes from all the enemy ships at once are almost sure to overrun the defenders of a lonely ship.

Keep your fleet together. Make a fighter shield screen. Lance-barrage the Warp out of them. And if you play Khorne as I do, board the fools and make them taste their own medicine (SM are really good at offensive boarding, not defensive actions).

Anyway, even if your weak crews are slaughtered by waves of angry Terminators, remember : The Blood God doesn't care whose blood is spilled. You are doing great.

Chaos is literally the definition of bane to Space Marines. How can you have problems with them, I have no idea.

Lances melt their armourBombers melt their armourCarriers screen from any torpedo/thunderhawk boarding attemptsLots of ways to go furtive (silent running/Tzeentch favour/speed to escape into gas cloud) to dodge boarding torpedoes/thunderhawksSlaanesh favour to block their skillsNurgle favour to counter boarding (still good even after stupid assault favours nerf)

Problem with battle barges? Take the combustion gauge refiller, kite. They are as fast as you but not faster for god's sake, and it's them who have to get into their own range. Take out anything other than barges, than spread out. Escape with whatever the barge is chasing while surrounding it with your other ships (stay out of 6K range).

Seems like the T.E. use mostly Bomber Spam.... my entire chaosfleet is skilled for range and shooting with lances, and every single ship has Slaanesh favor, (because as Eldar and Dark Eldar Tabletop Player, it is my favorite chaos god^^). i won at last i would say ~half of my battles against SM. Maybe try it yorself?

Spoiler : :

Steam-Name: "Marilyn Manson"

"We bring only death, and leave only carrion. It is a message even a Human can understand."

Carriers are the simplest way. Defensive fighter squadrons can destroy hordes of them. The reason carriers are the better option is that Most good space marine players will use recon beacons, attaching one to your ship to keep it revealed at all times. They do this because they know that a ship becoming furtive is one of their major weaknesses. Second, once a carrier deploys it's defensive screen, you can start using it to deploy assault boats and bombers of your own, dealing damage tot he enemy, only deploying more fighters when needed.

The other simple way of dealing with them is to become furtive. This is done in one of three simple ways: -Running Silent (or any variation thereof) -Entering a Gas Cloud (Including a Tzeentch Favor Cloud) -Stop Moving Inside an Asteroid FieldBecoming furtive makes the torpedoes lose their lock on you, and they can't re acquire it, so they will continue on in a straight line once they lose it, going until they pass off the map. However, if that straight line carries them into one of your ships, it will take the boarding action anyway, so make sure to move your ships out of the way, once locks are lost.

How to Deal with Heavy Armor:

Lances. No, not AP Macro. Just no. Slap yourself if you thought it. AP macro only works at close range and you don't want to get close. You want lances, and also more lances. And when you have enough lances, you want a few more lances. If you are tired of lances, get bombers (preferably bombers with lances).

If you really, really, absolutely must get close to them, do it with Nurgle favor. Their low health makes Nurgle favor especially painful to them and helps with all the boardings you'll be taking in your face. The best thing about Nurgle favor: pretty often they do all the work of keeping their distance from you.

Vesorak wrote:-The strongest armor in the game-The greatest boarding potential of any faction-The ability to field two battleships-Boarding Torpedoes more annoying than the Ork's

And worst of all:-Fast enough to chase chaos ships

I never had any trouble wasting loyalists or xenos, but I cannot seem to touch the SMs. Since their release my shipyard has looked like a scrapheap. I have temporarily resorted to the generator security team (+10 to attempts to cancel a warp) just so I can scrape up some XP from matches against SM.

Carriers seem to be the obvious answer. I try to use fighters to block their torps and assualt craft and generally stay out of range. This works on inexperienced SM admirals half the time. Still, this tactic falls flat against the unthinkable Battle Barge, and someone had the bright idea to let them field two at a time. I have lost many CCs due to running out of time as the attacker because my remaining carriers, despite being outfitted with automated refueling, warp raptor crew, and liberal use of "Reload!" cannot damage these fast enough. I also love how, according to the faction select menu, SMs have "No Defensive Fighter" yet every single ship can be upgraded to take them.

Anyway, what is your experience fighting Space Marine fleets, how do you deal with them?

Quite literally the opposite to the way chaos generally perform against the SM.Chaos are the very definition of an SM counter: very AP heavy, fast, strong carriers, long range and enough health to resist thier weapons.

Where's your Federation now?-Imperial Navy

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Not to mention SM ships have to waste a skill to get any fighter cover, and it has like 3 times the cooldown of conventional fighter launches, so SM aren't all that hot at defending themselves against bombers unless they happen to directly cross paths with a thunderhawk wing at the time.